Newsie girl
by newsiesgirllaces
Summary: A girl mascarades as a boy, and becomes involved with the stike. is she the only one with a secret? Please read my story it's better than my summary.
1. Chapter 1

Newsie Girl

Chpt. 1

July 16, 1899

_Run, Run, Run, don't look back!_

"Come back here shrimp!"

_Stupid Delancy brothers! I say one thing and they try to kill me!_

"Once we're done with ya, ya ain't ever gonna walk again!"

_I should blame Racetrack for this. Bright side is, if I live, I'm getting two cents. _(Hey, in my time two was like five bucks.)

"Pardon me ladies." I said bursting through a crowd of proper elegant women about my age. Mush would've gone after the one in the Blue frilly dress, and by the end of the day would've already gotten a kiss.

_To think I might have become one of those frilly girls that mush would go after is a scary thought. _My blue eyes set on Racetrack smoking a cigar, selling papes.

"Ya owe me two cents!" I yelled once reaching him.

"How da I know ya went threw with it?" he smirked, puffing out some smoke.

"There 'e is!" I turned around and saw the Delancy's violently running at me.

"Pay up." I said turning to Racetrack.

"Ugh." he sighed, as he dug into his pocket and flipped out two pennies. I caught them and hid the two cents in my back pocket.

"See ya!" I shouted with the Delancy's nipping at my heels. The routs of the streets were at the back of my hand. _Turn right, go threw the ally way, duck, dive. _I was running so fast I didn't care to look back. _Turn left outta the ally way, then turn…_

"Oof!" I ran into someone and I crashed to the ground. I gazed up at the person I collided with.

"What are ya run'n from, the Bulls?" questioned the best person to run into while running from some one.

"Nah cowboy just thought I otta take a jogg." I smiled. I herd the Delancy's come behind me.

"You're dead." Oscar Delancy chuckled.

"And make some friends along the way." I smirked nervously.

"I'll handle this." Cowboy said helping me up then standing in front of me.

"Outta the way Cowboy, this ain't got nott'n ta do with ya." Morris Delancy commanded.

"Ya's chasing my best man, it's got everything ta do with me." Cowboy shot back. The Delancy's were about eighteen and Cowboy was seventeen, but Cowboy was tall, strong, and had friends everywhere. The Delancy's would be stupid to fight him. They seemed to back down.

"We're watch'n ya shrimp." Oscar threatened turning back with Morris.

"Thanks." I said once Cowboy turned around.

"Hey, we're newsies, that makes us brothers, and brothers stick out for one anudd'a." Cowboy smiled. I nodded at the fact. That was like our code. We were all one huge family.

"So whatca do ta get ugly, and uglier chase afta ya?" questioned Cowboy.

"I took oscar's hat and called them dirty muttonhead butts." I smiled. Cowboy laughed at that. Most likely imagining Oscars face when I grabbed his hat, considering nobody had the guts to do that.

"So, how much did Racetrack bet ya at do that?" questioned Cowboy. He knew that if anyone did something outrageously stupid, Racetrack bet them to do it.

"Two cents." I answered.

"Ta do that I woldda asked for five. You got some guts for do'in that." Cowboy nodded.

"Here, ya helped me get away." I said reaching into my pocket and pulling out and handig him a penny. "Half the profits." I smiled. The bell of the church down the street chimed two in the afternoon, and I just remembered something.

"Gotta go! Boots told me ta meet him at the park." I said running off.

"Oh, Laces!" I turned around. "Got ya these." Cowboy handed me three strings of shoelaces. (What a Newsie still has hobbies. How'd ya think I got my name?)

"Thanks Cowboy!" I called back while running off again.

"See ya later!" he yelled. Boots said there would be a large gathering of people at the park at three. It would make up for lost time since I still got thirty-seven papes to sell.

Papes- in 1899 it was slang for newspapers.

Bulls- What newsies called the Police

Mutton head- what newsies called idiots.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chpt. 2_

"Extra! Extra! Man found dead of gunshot wounds! Extra Extra!" Actually the guy accidentally shot himself in the leg and died of lead poisoning, but who would buy that kind of pape? Besides I'm a fast runner, I could easily get away with it. I sold my last paper and was happy to be rid of it. The church bell rung six, and it was starting to get dark.

"Nice job laces." Boots smiled. Boots was an African American eleven year old who said he ran away from his folks.

"You did some nice sell'n too." I nodded. We were walking back to the to the newsboy lodging house.

"Too the diggings." Boots sighed. While walking back we saw a tall figure in the distance, who I recognized emidiantly.

"Hey! Hushy!" I yelled. Boots and I ran up to Hushy and he smiled. Hushy had red hair, green eyes and sunburned skin. The only time he talked was when it was an emergency or he was selling papes. Sometimes I felt really bad for him; he always seems to be out on his own.

"Did ya have nice sell'n today, Hush?" Boots questioned. Hushy nodded his head and opened his pape sell'n bag, which was empty.

"Yah, good business today." I sighed happily. Hushy yawned which triggered Boots and I to do the same. Hushy always got up early. Earlier than me, which said a lot considering I always woke up around four in the morning. Hushy seemed bothered on the way to the lodging house when he finally whispered,

"Some one's following us."

_When Hushy talks people should listen. _I told myself.

"How do ya know?" Boots whispered back. Hushy stopped in the middle of his tracks and seemed to be listening. Boots and I held our breaths. Behind us we could hear footsteps.

"It's probably Kid Blink, just trying to scare us." I whispered, even though my gut told me other wise. We turned around simultaneously to see Oscar and Morris, The Delancy Brothers.

"We warned ya we'd be back." Morris smiled. Before we were able to run we were cut off by two of the Delancy's pals.

"Come on. All this for lil' ol' me?" I smiled weakly. Oscar lifted me up by my shirt collar.

"Where's my hat, shrimp?" he questioned. I gave a nervous chuckle.

"Well, ya see…" I had to think of a good excuse because I really chucked his hat into the East river. "Guy from Newark offered some food for ya's hat. How can I say no ta that?" I shrugged. _Yah, I'm dead._

"Well that's unfortunate." Oscar said raising his fist to my face.

"Where's your Cowboy friend now?" chuckled Morris. Oscar was rounding up for the punch, when he winced at something. Hushy grabbed his slingshot and marbles, and pelted Oscar, who dropped me. I quickly got up and ran to Boots and Hushy.

"Ya three bone heads." smiled Oscar as the four thugs closed in on us.

_Looks like I got to fight my way out of this one. _

"Three ta four, we can take 'em." Boots said. We were pretty good at holding our own against four boys, who were about six years older than us. We were almost out when…

BAM!!! Everything went black.

Diggens- Newsie term for a place to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello people! This my first fan fiction! So don't be too hard on me. Enjoy, and please review. I own nothing except for Laces, and Hushy.**

_Chpt. 3_

"Ugh…" I groaned. My head was throbbing.

"Morris soaked ya hard." I heard boots say. I opened my eyes. While one I could see perfectly out of the other was blurred. I was in the lodging house, and was being stared at by Hushy, Boots, Racetrack, Kid Blink, and Cowboy.

"What all ya's look's at." I questioned sitting up.

"Delancy's messed ya up bad." Racetrack said, handing me a shard of a mirror. As I gazed into it, my left eye was black, blue, purple, and swollen. I touched it and winced at the pain.

"I can handle it." I shrugged. _I can't show pain here. It'll only make me look weak. _The guys patted me on the back and went downstairs for dinner. Apparently I had only been out for about a half hour.

"Hey, if you need any help with Oscar and Morris, just tell me." Cowboy said before he left the room. I nodded then followed them out.

_Stupid Racetrack. I wouldn't have this black eye if it weren't for him! _(Remember how I said that us newsies were like one big family of brothers? Well brothers do fight sometimes.) Once down stairs, I met up with my two friends. Lepercoin, and B.O Bob. Lepercoin's real name is Dan O'Conner. His family immigrated here but both his Mom and Dad didn't survive the trip. He is short, has bright red hair, freckles, light green eyes, and is really short, even though he is thirteen, like me. B.O Bob was a tall, and burly only at the age of fourteen. He is about six foot, has brown straight hair and gray eyes. B.O Bob looked like he would kill anyone who got in his way. However, he hates violence of any sort. He said his family was from Germany and they moved here for a new start. Unfortunately, both his parents got sick and died. B.O Bob's uncle looked after him but he would put him in wrestling matches for extra money. B.O Bob hated the fights, so he ran away and joined us. We call him B.O Bob because of his incredibly awful body odor. The three of us looked strange together. The small Irish boy, the murderous looking German kid, and me, the lanky guy, with a necklace made of two shoelaces tied together.

"Whadda ya hear, wadda ya say?" B.O Bob smiled when I took my seat next to him.

"What happed to your eye?" Lepercoin asked me in his Irish accent.

"Delancy's" I answered.

"Their willing ta soak just aout anyone on da streets these days." sighed B.O Bob. I didn't want to talk about why the Delancy's were after me and I was happy they didn't ask. Lepercoin was talking about a Flash man who took about half of his profits.

"Then he was gone. I still remember what he looks like though." Lepercoins Irish accent was flaring with anger.

"Maybe he was some Guttersnipe who needed the money." B.O Bob suggested. (Did I mention that B.O Bob was a glass half full kind of guy?)

"Or maybe 'e was a Grafter who just commited murda and 'e needed some money ta get outta here." I joked. Just then a blond hair boy with curly hair came threw the door and looked like he was sighning in.

"Hey look, we got a Rube." I said pointing to the boy.

"That's him! That's the Flash man!" exclaimed Lepercoin. The boy was talking to Kloppman (The awesome guy who owns the joint) then he joined us in the dinning area.

"Laces, can you show this boy around? I'm a bit busy now." asked Kloppman.

"Sure." I smiled, knowing it would kill Lepercoin. After Kloppman walked away, I invited the new kid to sit with us. Lepercoins face got crimson red.

"Hello." said the kid.

"You're that Flash man who took my money!" busted Lepercoin not able to hold it in any more. The kid looked guilty. Then said,

"I'm sorry, it was a last resort." the kid sighed. Before Lepercoin opend his mouth, I covered it and smiled,

"Apology accepted. My name is Laces. This is B.O bob and Lepercoin."

"What's your name." questioned a still upset Lepercoin.

"My name is Bob Johnson." he answered.

"hmmm we already have a Bob. How about we call you Flash." I said. ( Flash, short for flash man.)

"I like it." smiled Flash. I showed him around then, I slowly drifted to sleep in my cot.

Soaked- Newsie slang for beat

Whadda ya hear, wadda ya say? - A Newsie greeting

Flash man - What Newsies called pick pockets

Guttersnipe - What Newsies called homeless people

Grafter - What Newsies called criminals

Rube - What a Newsie called an outsider


End file.
